ABOUT
Neil Dinar Athale is a British Asian film & TV composer, songwriter and producer based in the UK. He has composed the scores for numerous acclaimed, award winning, internationally released feature films.
Neil most recently composed the score to the highly anticipated Sky Cinema Original Feature, ‘Twist’. Twist is a modern-day retelling of the Oliver Twist story, starring Oscar winner Michael Caine and Lena Headey. The film was released globally in 2021.
In 2020/21 Netflix released ‘Strange But True’, a noir thriller, Produced by La La Land’s Fred Berger, alongside Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Christina Piovesan. The film stars Margaret Qualley and Nick Robinson alongside Oscar/Emmy nominees Greg Kinnear, Amy Ryan, Brian Cox and Blythe Danner. It went to the top 10 in the UK & US Netflix charts upon its release.
Neil’s breakthrough as a feature composer came when he scored the much vaunted, multi-award nominated ‘Wasteland’(aka ‘The Rise’). Starring Vanessa Kirby, Iwan Rheon Neil Maskell, and Timothy Spall, the film premiered to great acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released around the world shortly after TIFF.
Following the release of Wasteland, Neil went on to score numerous other films including, the British drama, ‘North Vs South’, comedy drama ‘Golden Years’ & ‘Gloves Off’.
Neil was born in Yorkshire to a British mother and Indian father. Neil moved to London aged 18 and quickly rooted himself in the session-musician scene, playing guitar for a number of successful artists. After several years spent touring the world, Neil made the decision to concentrate on songwriting and production. This led to a publishing deal with Universal and extensive experience working with major label artists such as James Bay, Paloma Faith, George the Poet & Red Velvet. Neil is now based in Buckinghamshire.
Neil's background in commercial music, working with such a broad and diverse group of artists, proved the ideal foundation for both honing his talent for writing memorable and melodic music; and embracing the collaborative spirit that allowed a seamless, and productive transition into film composition.
As a composer with a British and Asian ethnic minority background, Neil is sensitive to the diversity issues faced in the industry and makes a point, wherever possible to use a diverse music team that benefit from a wide range of underrepresented backgrounds and perspectives.